Review: The Bollywood Bride by Sonali Dev

Ria Parkar is Bollywood's favorite Ice Princess--beautiful, poised, and scandal-proof--until one impulsive act threatens to expose her destructive past. Traveling home to Chicago for her cousin's wedding offers a chance to diffuse the coming media storm and find solace in family, food, and outsized celebrations that are like one of her vibrant movies come to life. But it also means confronting Vikram Jathar.

Ria and Vikram spent childhood summers together, a world away from Ria's exclusive boarding school in Mumbai. Their friendship grew seamlessly into love--until Ria made a shattering decision. As far as Vikram is concerned, Ria sold her soul for stardom and it's taken him years to rebuild his life. But beneath his pent-up anger, their bond remains unchanged. And now, among those who know her best, Ria may find the courage to face the secrets she's been guarding for everyone else's benefit--and a chance to stop acting and start living.

Rich with details of modern Indian-American life, here is a warm, sexy, and witty story of love, family, and the difficult choices that arise in the name of both.

First Line: "How do you explain losing your words to someone?"Review:The Bollywood Bride wrecked me! This was my first book by Sonali Dev and it definitely won't be my last. And my gosh check out that cover it's so beautiful! Vikram and Ria's story was intense there is no other word to describe it. What was a surprise for me was the dark undertone in the book it's not just a romance but much more.

It's been ten years since Ria shattered Vikram's heart and left him without turning back and now they are stuck living under the same roof. Ria is a tormented soul even though Vikram has been a part of her life since childhood there are things that even he doesn't know. There were times I just wanted her to tell Vikram everything and let them have their happily ever after because my heart literally broke for both of them but at the same time I got Ria's reasoning and in her head she was being selfless saving Vikram from a possibility of even more heartbreak in the future. Honestly, the whole time I kept thinking how are these two going to have a happily ever after because Ria's reasoning was pretty sound, I kept thinking if that was me I probably would have tried to do the same.

I have to talk about Vikram, I'm not going to lie I really disliked him when we first met him but still I was so intrigued. He was downright vicious to Ria when they finally saw each other which wasn't under the best circumstances but as the back story developed of these two characters I got it, Vikram went through hell I really wish there was point of views from him because I felt like this wasn't just Ria's story but Vikram's too. You can tell he was lashing out at her for how much hurt he was feeling and it didn't help that Ria for her own reasons purposely acted like a cold hearted bitch to him. I was very concerned about cheating...I hate characters who cheat and when Ria and Vikram met up he had a girlfriend but luckily that situation was handled very well by Vikram and there is no cheating. Needless to say, Vikram grew on me and I ended up loving him.

Being someone of Indian descent, I really felt Dev brought the Indian culture to life. I'm not from India so I can't speak much on that part of the book but most of the book was based in Chicago a city I have visited so it was easy to picture the setting for me along with obviously the culture, the food, the people and the wedding that was taking place, it was all spot on and beautifully written.

Overall The Bollywood Bride is a must read it took me on an emotional roller coaster of a ride that was worth every minute of it.

Memorable Quote:~"She was a ticking time bomb and he was angry enough to be her fuse. And together they were a tragedy waiting to repeat itself."

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~*Est. Feb 2011*~
Book Flame is a blog dedicated to my love for reading. You will find reviews on various genres along with blog tours and Q&A with best selling and Indie authors. You can also find me on bookstagram and follow my reviews on goodreads.